The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1887-11-10
PART OF THE NEW SOUTH
DESCRIBED BY A PIONEER IN II,
GEN. Wtlder's Talk About East
Tennessee and the Region 10
the Atlantic COnst..POinIs'
of Marvellous Richness.
ATaIIk by Gen. ROsser.
Springfield, Mass, Republican OF the 7th

nothing but the wildcats, mountaineers and
moonshiners that have always been supposed
to chiefly inhabit It, Gen. John I. Wilder, Of
Chattanooga, Tenn, painted it in far different
colors Saturday night to a company OF promi-
nent Springfield business men in private room
at the Massasoit house. Gen. Wilder was the
pioneer iron man of the new South. and has
been in that business all his life He Is now
engaged in developing vast mines OF magnetic
iron ore in the extreme northeastern corner OF
Tennessee and northwestern North Carolina,
and of this region and work he talked more
especially Saturday night
Gen Wilder first spoke OF the remarkable
changes that have been taking place among the
people of the South since the war. An aston
ishing thrift, industry and enterprise have
grown up from the ruins Of slavery. Every.
BODY in that section has forgotten the war, for
gotten JEFF Davis and all are absorbed In the
development Of as it were, q newly discovered
country of wonderful richness In proof Of this
witness the spread of temperance and prohibit
ten ideas, not alone in Tennessee, but all over
the South, I'm my State" said Gen. wilder,
"over 100000 is now being saved annually
and invested in these various enterprises,
which used to go to whiskey. have always
been Republican and an outspoken one, but
in all these years have been in the South !
never had disrespectful word spoken to me in
| consequence of my political opinions" Gen.
Wilder went on to describe the china te and sur
face features of this section lying between Ten
nessee and North Carolina. 1t is a great, fertile
diversified valley, with a climate so mild and
salubrious and atmosphere so pure and bracing
as to make II a most delightful place to live at
all seasons of the year Beside, the scenery is
OF the most picturesque order tits among the
mountains in western North Carolina that peo.
pie in the Southern States 60 for health and
pleasure during the summer months. Here are
found the flora of all ATTITUDES from Hudson 8
Bay to Wilmington, N. Ca fact that has only
recently attracted the attention OF botanists.
Then, too, here are the most extensive hard
wood forests left in America. Oak OF twenty
varieties, hickory, cherry, ash, black walnut,
hard pine and poplar are found In the vast for
ests covering the whole region. But 1t is not
the lumber alone, nor the climate, nor the fer
tility OF the soil that are to prove the most
potent elements in the development OF this sec.
ton. Here are beds of iron ore of the highest
quality, which at present look as If they were
inexhaustible. A few miles southeast OF John
son City, Tenn, have been opened the Gran.
berry Mines where lay beds of steel ore almost
entirely free from phosphorus and sulphur, OK
tending along therej SO far as ascertained %
miles. Over 100000 tons of this ore are now
in sight. charcoal blast furnace has been in
operation here for two years, making pigiron
of the best quality for steel and iron castings
and ore is being now shipped from these mines
to Chattanooga Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylva
nia But lis not these inexhaustible quantities
of the best iron ore alone that hold the promises
OF great future for the section. Coal should
be close at hand for any unusual development
And here 1t is in wonderful amounts. Not more
than 20 miles north from these mountains Of
steel ore, in southwestern Virginia. are beds Of
coking coal II feet thick, covering an area Of BOZ
square miles Here is coal enough for smelling
Bessemer iron from all around. Nor are these
all. Farther north, and just south OF the
Hanging Rock iron region" about Ashland
KY, is the largest known area of coking coal in
the United States. There are In this region
some 70 iron furnaces, which are idle much Of
the time, owing to the difficulty in getting ores
J which have heretofore been brought from the
Lake Superior region by boat and rail to bt
worked in these vast coal fields The import
ance of these coking coal deposits will be better
understood when it is considered that the Con
nellsville Pa supply, which has been thu
chief reliance for steel smelling even so far ives
as st. Louis, will not last much more than q
g years If worked at the present rate. With such
inexh austible quantities of Bessemer ores anC
coking coal this section from Ashland, KY, Il
the ore beds in North Carolina, distance O
$50 miles, promises, indeed, cannot well hell
being the iron centre OF the United States Prof
3 N. s. Shaler, of Harvard University, says 1t 4
the richest field OF mineral wealth in any coun
try, and remarks 81 believe it will be founC
! that no ores of like richness and purity win b.
: found 80 convenient to pure cheap ceals.
, From 40 900 to 5000 tons of coal can be dug on
to the acre all through this section. Moreove
there is no trouble from drainage, as the coun
try by these beds of ore and coal is nearly every
I where some 500 feet above drainage. Swamps
! ponds and the like are not to be found in tn
ore region
!, incidentally Gen. Wilder spoke of the Charles
D ton, Cincinnati and Chicago railroad, which /
Charleston, s. G., q distance OF 800 miles. TIL
: road will penetrate this marvellous section
which Gen. Wilder described. Leaving Ash
land on the Ohio river 1t will pass through
these vast coal deposits and ha I'd timber forest
, in eastern Kentucky and southwestern Viz VIZ
ginia and, crossing the East Tennessee, Virgins
and Georgia line at johnson City. will enter tn
: magnetic iron-ore region Thence 1t will ente
North and South Carolina, and the rice, cottol
: and tobacco fields of those States. 1t wiilthere
I fore, when built form an air line between tn
| wheat and wool and grain growing section O
: Ohio and the Northwest and the cotton an,
8 tobacco fields of the South, Beside, It passe
\ through what its promoters believe will be tn
future iron center of the country. Gen. Wilde
estimates that the freight traffic alone Of ore an
i coal between the Hanging Rock region and tn
magnetic iron beds In North Carolina and Ter
nessee to supply just the furnaces now bull
! will amount to over $6,0O0,00O year simply o.
the northern half of the line. In no place Il
~ this country is coal and iron of this qualit
e found so near together and In such quantities
. A railroad is all that is now needed to bring tn
two together. Then there Is the hard WOO
lumber which is bound to enrich mebod
3 before long. More than this, the fact that tn
road is to cross the Blue Ridge and CHAMBERLAIN
: mountains at easy grades and brings the Obi
: river so miles nearer Charleston than any othe
line, the projectors look for the West Indian an
), South American trade between Charleston an
i the Northwest A section OF 60 miles of tn
. road south of Ashland and 60miles OF 1t betwee
Camden, S. c., and Marion, N. c., are alread
g completed and the rails on the rest of the lin
: between Camden and Ashland are now bein
, laid. -
4 GEN. THOMAS l., RoSSER,
u Chief construction engineer of the Norther
} Pacific and Canadian Pacific railroads. Is tn
', consulting engineer of the Charleston. Cincir
9 natl and Chicago company, He spoke brief
y Saturday evening, showing the possibilities of
line connecting as this does the cotton, rice an
g tobacco country of the Carolinas with the graf
d growing Northwest and penetrating as thi
!, does the future iron and hard lumber center
of the United States, Having built thes
roads" said Gen Rosser, referring to the PacIfi
, lines, land having been connected with man
l, other minor enterprises Of like character, CO
Il say l have never seen country that needed
p railroad so badly and could build and suppol
1 one SO well as this country of which we ar
t speaking In the West for example, 40 acre
i OF land are required each year TO supply on
. carload OF freight But here in the first pl1c
are vast quantities Of timber that win iurnis